Published 4:41 pm, Wednesday, June 3, 2015

WILTON — It was a game with enough twists and turns to fill an entire tournament but in the end Wilton found a way to grab an opening-round victory.

Jackson Ward was a hero with a game-tying double and then scored the game-winning run in the sixth on a day when he struggled on the mound as he led No. 9 Wilton to a 7-6 win over No. 24 Xavier at the Warriors’ field in the CIAC LL state baseball tournament.

The Warriors (16-5) will now face No. 8 Norwalk at Norwalk City Hall Field on Thursday.

Whether it was a bit of a hangover from their FCIAC championship or some minor rust accumulated while waiting for the rain to stop for the past two days, the Warriors struggled.

Ward had fashioned a combined 6-2 mark during the regular season and conference playoffs but the senior was touched up for 12 hits and six runs in four innings while handing out two walks and striking out only one batter.

The righty admitted it was a struggle on the mound but handed out credit to his fielders for backing him up when he needed help — especially center fielder Scott Shouvlin, who threw out a runner at the plate in the first inning and made an outstanding running catch almost 400-feet from the plate with the go-ahead run on base for the Falcons in the fourth frame.

“You have to give it up for my teammates,” said Ward. “Baseball is a team sport and they really picked me up today. We didn’t play our best game today but we did enough to win and that is what’s important.”

The Warriors were like the proverbial fighter who keeps getting up off the canvas until they can deliver the knock-out blow.

They found their punch in the bottom of the sixth when they were trailing 6-5. Wilton’s Collin Kahal started it out with a walk off Xavier starting pitcher Kyle Wollman. Kahal moved to second base on James Meany’s sacrifice bunt and scored on Ward’s double to left to tie the game at 6-6.

The Falcons brought in Scott Marks in relief and he induced a pop-out by the Warriors’ Alex Jacobson for the second out but Dillon Lifrieri followed with a single to score Ward to give Wilton a 7-6 edge.

Xavier was not about to go away without a fight.

Wilton’s Sean McEwen came on as the third pitcher of the day for the Warriors and quickly got two outs before Nick Grasso singled and Rich Downey doubled. McEwen walked Eli Camner, loading the bases for one final act of drama.

The Falcons’ Jake Corrone hit a bouncer up the middle which Ward turned into a force out ending the game.

The Warriors’ offense was led by Ward with three hits and aided by four errors committed by Xavier.

Coach Tim Eagen was happy his team found the resiliency to win.

“We were flat, but we kept putting the ball in play and we were scoring — that is why I was confident we could pull this game out,” said Eagen. “There are different types of games. There are one-run games, there are slugfests, but this one was somewhere in between.”

Eagen gave a lot of credit to Trevor Blond and McEwen for coming on in relief to keep the Warriors within striking distance.

“Our big problem right now is pitching and whether we’ll have enough but we’re going to have to paste it together,” said Eagen. “But these kids are confident enough and we’re going to have to hit and hit and put the ball in play like we did today. That team over there is a good team and Xavier proved it today. They just couldn’t put us away.”

Downey led the Falcons with four hits while Grasso and Andre Marchesseault rapped out three each.

Xavier coach Nick Cerreta had plenty of reasons to be proud.

“My team is great. They’re great guys,” said Cerreta. “We have a lot of seniors and it was an up-and-down year for but our seniors the fight they had today. The heart, the passion, they left it all on the field. It was a great game and I love my guys but its baseball and somebody has to win and somebody has to lose.”

It looked at first it might have been the Falcons who would walk away with a win as they rapped out four hits and scored twice against Ward in the opening inning with Shouvlin’s pellet to the plate providing Ward with some relief for the last out of the frame.

Wilton came right back however to grab on 4-2 lead in the bottom inning with Xavier committing three errors to keep the Warrior rally alive.

The Falcon’s tied the game with three consecutive doubles off Ward in the top of the third.

Wilton took the lead again in the fourth. Singles by Shouvlin, Meany and Ward loaded the bases with one out. Jacobson hit into what looked to be an inning ending double play but the umpires ruled Xavier’s Grasso had not touched second base, allowing Shouvlin to score for a 5-4 Wilton advantage.

The Falcon’s surged ahead with four base hits in the fifth which ended Wards’ day on the mound and set up the dramatic ending to the game.